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Dolapdere is a neighborhood in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, Turkey. It has changed dramatically in recent years.
Introduction to Dolapdere
When I first moved to Istanbul in October 2010, Dolapdere was unsafe and off limits. The neighborhood is almost completely unrecognizable today.
While driving through Dolapdere in October 2018, I was shocked at the changes. Just a short walk downhill from Taksim Square, gentrification has unsurprisingly crept into what was a poverty-stricken area. There has been significant investment by hotels, art galleries, and businesses.
Arter
One of the biggest arrivals is Arter, a modern art gallery that moved to a huge facility in Dolapdere in September 2019 from its space on the more visible Istiklal Street. It was founded in 2010 as a subsidiary of the Vehbi Koç Foundation and also presents cultural programs. The building is 18,000 square meters and features exhibition space, performance halls, classrooms, a bookstore, and a library. The collection numbers about 1,500 pieces by around 400 artists from the 1960s to the present.
Admission is 350₺ for adults, 200₺ for seniors age 65+, and free for visitors under age 25 (as of July 2025). It’s also free for all visitors on Thursdays. Arter is open daily except Mondays. If you work up an appetite during your visit, there’s a restaurant on-site.
Nuri Kuzucan: Passage
One of the exhibitions during my visit was Nuri Kuzucan: Passage, which ran from June 1, 2023, to April 2, 2024. This solo exhibit by Nuri Kuzucan focused on “cognitive and perceptual fluidity and transitivity by featuring works that revolve around dualities such as chaos/order, light/shadow, emptiness/fullness, surface/depth, and interior/exterior”.
Cengiz Çekil: I Am Still Alive
Cengiz Çekil: I Am Still Alive ran from February 9, 2023, to October 22, 2023. It was spread over the 3rd and 4th floor gallery spaces and was the most comprehensive exhibition of works by Cengiz Çekil (1945-2015) to date.
According to the exhibition’s description, Çekil used everyday objects to reflect “on the socio-political circumstances of the period in which he created his body of work, focusing on the effects of modernization, urbanization, globalization, political violence, and consumer culture”. His works “contemplate existential questions about death, energy, time, and faith”. Some of the materials he used include clocks, newspapers, and calendars.
Çekil is considered one of the pioneering figures of conceptual art in Turkey. He “re-contextualized, serialized and transformed daily objects, familiar phrases, and forms into multi-layered works that provoke the collective imagination and transcend the established definitions and classifications of art”.
Sarkis: ENDLESS
Sarkis: ENDLESS displayed the works of Sarkis Zabunyan (b. 1938) from May 4, 2023, to March 3, 2024. It was presented on the 2nd floor with works spanning from the 1980s to 2015. According to the description, the exhibition emphasized “the crucial role played by light, color, and music in his artistic practice”.
While admiring the works, Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Cantata No. 127” and Dmitri Shostakovich’s “Quartet No. 15” played from opposite ends of the gallery. Music composed for his work Respiro, by Jacopo Baboni-Schilingi, was also on a loop. Other works by Ali Kazma and Domenika Kaesdorf were included at Sarkis’ invitation.
In Its Own Shadow
In Its Own Shadow ran from October 19, 2023, to April 14, 2024, and included pieces from the Arter collection. Works by 25 artists were displayed at the entrance and basement galleries.
The concept of the exhibition was to seek out gray areas arising from the thematic dualities of subjects such as inside and outside, public and private, presence and absence, memory and oblivion, and void and body.
The works were often created using “ordinary, everyday materials” and “favor shadow over light, the unknown over the obvious, and the fragment over the whole”. According to the description, the “works in the exhibition lead us into a misty field of perception for the pursuit of new meanings”.
Dolapdere Flea Market
My memories of Dolapdere are all from the flea market. The neighborhood has a high concentration of Roma, who get together to sell a mishmash of items on Sundays. The best way to get there is to walk down Dolapdere Taksim Street or Elmadağ Street and cross Irmak Avenue.
I visited this open-air bazaar with Tyra, Selen, and Canan, and it was very entertaining. First of all, the people were extremely friendly and had a good sense of humor.
Second, the variety of goods on sale was absolutely ridiculous. There were antiques that could have fetched a good price at a proper antique shop as well as head-scratchers like half-empty tubes of toothpaste and used AA batteries. We saw the ugliest clothing imaginable along with electronics that are beyond obsolete today.
To make things even more interesting, rumor has it that many goods are stolen from homes around Istanbul and resold in the flea market!
Panagia Evangelistria Greek Orthodox Church
The flea market takes place on the streets surrounding the Panagia Evangelistria Greek Orthodox Church (Εὐαγγελιστρίας τῶν Προπόδων / Panayia Evangelistria Rum Ortodoks Kilisesi). The building was constructed between 1877 and 1893 and designed by Ottoman Greek architect Petrakis D. Mimaridis. It stands on the site of an older wooden church dating back to 1857.
Adam Mickiewicz Museum
Finally, on the southwest corner of Dolapdere at the border with Tarlabaşı, you’ll find the Adam Mickiewicz Museum (Adam Mickiewicz Müzesi). This house on Tatlı Badem Street is dedicated to the life of Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855). The museum is open daily and admission is free (as of July 2025). Information is presented in Turkish, English, and Polish.
Mickiewicz moved to the house in September 1855 to help organize Polish forces under the command of the Ottoman Army. He befriended and worked with Michał Czajkowski (1804-1886), also known as Sadık Paşa, who was in charge of the Polish forces. Mickiewicz died a few months later on November 26, probably of cholera. His body was kept in a crypt in the basement for one month before being transported to Montmorency, France. It was repatriated to Krakow, Poland, in 1890, where he was buried at the Wawel Cathedral.
The house was renovated after a fire in 1870. It opened as a museum in 1955 with the help of the Museum of Literature in Warsaw. On the ground floor you’ll find a timeline of Mickiewicz’s life as well as a few artifacts. Upstairs is a painting of Mickiewicz and more information.
Where to Eat in Dolapdere
Dolapdere isn’t exactly on the radar as far as the Istanbul culinary scene, but there’s one place worth checking out.
Ozzie’s Kokoreç
Ozzie’s Kokoreç serves up the best kokoreç in the city (roasted lamb or goat intestines). It came highly recommended by my friend Deniz and didn’t disappoint. It’s a good idea to make reservations before visiting. (Note: All photos below are from the old location in Asmalı Mescit.)
Marisol had a portion of kokoreç and I had a sandwich. We also shared a plate of sucuk. The kokoreç was incredible and the sucuk was delicious as well. Prices are higher than what you’d pay at your run-of-the-mill kokoreç place, but it’s well worth it.
